A Flower For You, And A Flower For Me
by icy roses
Summary: Roses are red, violets are blue, I will pick flowers, for Sesshoumaru. There are reasons for everything. Reasons why she picks them, and even reasons why he keeps them. LOVE, it was made, for you and me. A Rin and Sess story. fatherdaughter


**A/N: A cute little Sesshoumaru and Rin story. Father/daughter relationship, not romantic. A bit fluffy (pardon the pun), but I hope I have stayed true to each character's personality. Please don't leave without a review!**

She'd never seen a flower like that before. It was large and pale pink, the petals slightly parted to reveal the delicate stamens inside. Rin's small hands reached for it and plucked it. She grinned and added it to her current bouquet of two: a crocus and a wild rose. She wondered what this new flower was called. She shook her head happily. She would go ask Jaken, who was sitting with a forlorn look on his face a few feet away. Rin didn't know where he had gotten his extensive knowledge of flowers, but when she asked him, he just sputtered and turned red. Unbeknownst to her, Jaken had once served in the lower ranks of the toad demon tribe, as a _gardener_. But he would drop dead before he would tell Rin that. Or Lord Sesshoumaru.

She skipped up to him, bubbly with glee, as she was wont to be. "Jaken-sama, what's this one?" she questioned, pointing to the large pink flower. Jaken looked up and identified it in a single glance. He let out an exaggerated sigh. "It's a pink gardenia, Rin." He gave her a look of bored disbelief. "Do you _have_ to know the name of every single flower you pick?"

Rin chewed on her lip. She liked knowing the names of flowers. Didn't he? "They're pretty," she said thoughtfully. "Aaand, everyone has a name. You know my name, and I know yours. Wouldn't the flowers be sad if we didn't know their names?"

Jaken looked at her incredulously. "Flowers don't have feelings, you silly girl." But Rin was already gone, humming a little tune and off to pick more flowers. She frowned to herself. Jaken-sama was always such a spoilsport.

Rin never tired of learning new names. She had asked Jaken for the names of fifty-eight flowers. He had told her the names of fifty-seven. The other one had been some exotic plant that Jaken hadn't seen before. Rin had watched him ponder it for a long time in his hands, until she had gotten so bored with it that she didn't want it anymore. Unfortunately, two days later, Jaken discovered that the plant caused an itchy rash when put in contact with skin. He and Rin had both broken out in a bright red rash all over their hands and arms. Jaken was in worse condition than her, but that didn't prevent Sesshoumaru-sama from bestowing his "punishment" on the toad demon for allowing Rin to touch poisonous plants. Rin didn't actually know what Sesshoumaru-sama did, she only heard him say that he was taking Master Jaken into the forest for a "talk." That usually resulted in Jaken-sama returning with a large number of unexplained bruises and bumps, and Sesshoumaru-sama returning in a largely better mood.

Rin took her time with flower picking. When she was left with Jaken-sama, it generally was for hours at a time. Jaken-sama rarely consented to do anything fun, so she was stuck playing by herself. She sniffed. He was so _boring_. Rin always wanted to ask Sesshoumaru-sama to stay with her and make Jaken-sama go instead, but never got the courage to. Sesshoumaru-sama was much more fun to be with. He would listen to her talk instead of telling her to be quiet or mind her own business. And he would always answer her questions nicely, instead of tacking on "stupid girl" onto the end of every reply. Yes. Sesshoumaru-sama was much better.

She reached for another bloom. This one was a petunia. Jaken-sama had only told her this one yesterday. Her bouquet had five flowers now. She usually picked about twelve. Sometimes, she would weave a daisy chain, or pick extra flowers, just for the fun of sticking them in Sesshoumaru-sama's hair. Rin knew he didn't like it. So usually she didn't do that. Usually.

The first time she did, he had plucked them out, a faint look of annoyance on his face, and crushed them underfoot. It wasn't a very nice thing to do. She had spent a long time picking those blooms! First, she felt angry that he had wasted all her hard work. Then, she felt sad that he didn't care that she had picked flowers for him. So she cried. Loudly. It might have been a bit exaggerated, but she wanted him to know that she was upset.

Rin smiled at the memory. His expression was odd: a little surprised, a little annoyed, a little _scared_, and a little amused, though he was trying his best to hide the amusement. His lips twitched a bit at the corners, not enough for anyone to notice, but her. He produced a handkerchief from nowhere. Rin didn't even know that he _carried_ handkerchiefs around. He knelt down so that his face was level with hers. His amber eyes were hard and cold. Then, he surprised her. He started wiping her face. "Stop crying, Rin," he commanded stiffly. "I don't like children that cry all the time." He handed her the handkerchief and stood up. Swiftly, he plucked a flower from her bouquet and grudgingly stuck it behind his ear. "Jaken! We're leaving." And that was that. He made no comment for the rest of the day, but Jaken-sama had stared incredulously at the pink rose that bloomed at his left ear. But obviously, he hadn't dared to say anything. Rin had had a ridiculously large grin on her face for hours.

They had to make compromises, staying together. Rin wouldn't cry anymore, and Sesshoumaru-sama sometimes let her put flowers in his hair. At any rate, he wouldn't step on them anymore, after Rin's loud protestations at having "hurt" them. Compromises weren't so bad.

She picked a white narcissus. Jaken-sama had told her the name of this one, four days ago. It was a pretty flower, and it reminded her of Sesshoumaru-sama. It was a tall flower, and stood proudly, inches above the rest of the flowers. Thus, she called it the Sesshoumaru flower. There was also a Jaken flower and a Rin flower. She remembered when she had picked all three on one day and presented them to Sesshoumaru-sama.

The Jaken flower was a squat little marigold. They always grew around narcissus flowers. It was just like Jaken-sama. He always followed Sesshoumaru-sama around. The Rin flower was a small wild violet. It grew away from the other flowers, just like Rin. Rin was never with humans, after all. Sesshoumaru-sama had looked at the small bouquet of three flowers with his usual placid expression. He showed no curiosity, as he took it out of her hand, only asked, almost as a side-note, "Why only three today, Rin?" It was the wrong question. Rin bubbled excitedly into a long detailed explanation of the three flowers and how she had named them, Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Rin, respectively, and pointed out which one was which. Sesshoumaru-sama listened with a look of slight astonishment. It was more a look of "I-can't-believe-you-have-this-much-to-say-because-of-one-simple-question" than anything else, but it pleased Rin. He only said, "Oh," but Rin saw him ponder the flowers for a few moments, before tucking them into his kimono.

Why did Rin pick flowers for Sesshoumaru-sama every day? It wasn't because he liked them. He never even took notice of them. And it really wasn't because Rin liked picking flowers. You can only pick flowers so many times before it begins to bore you.

It was something to do, she supposed. That was a reason. She picked flowers because there was nothing else she could do to show her gratitude. He took care of her, bought clothes, found food, protected and sheltered her, and she didn't have anything to give back. That was a reason. And everywhere she looked, flowers reminded her of her new family. That was a reason too.

She sighed. She had picked fourteen flowers already. A wild rose, a crocus, a gardenia, a narcissus, a petunia, a daisy, a marigold, a wild violet, a carnation, an iris, a daffodil, a tiger lily, an aster, and an orchid. Fourteen. "Jaken-sama!" she called out in exasperation.

Jaken flung back a look of annoyance and watched as she skipped over to him, bunches of flowers clenched in her hands. "Jaken-sama, when is Sesshoumaru-sama coming back for us?" He rolled his eyes. "Maybe he won't ever come back for you," he said nastily. "You just get in our way anyway."

Tears sprang to her eyes. "That's not true!" she cried. Then she stopped and remembered what Sesshoumaru-sama had said. "I'm not going to cry," she reminded herself, "Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't like it." She blinked away the tears and looked hard at him. Crying never solved anything. And plus, she knew that Jaken-sama was lying to her just to scare her.

"Stupid Jaken-sama. He will _always_ come back for me." And she flounced off proudly, knowing that she had told the truth.

Sesshoumaru was standing there at the edge of the clearing. Perfect, she grinned. She turned back to look at Jaken-sama with a look of pure triumph on her face. "See? I told you," she said smugly.

A big smile on her face, she stuck to bouquet up to Sesshoumaru-sama. "I picked flowers for you," she said happily. Sesshoumaru-sama looked at her broadly beaming face and took the flowers. "Thank you, Rin," he said simply, "Let's go, Jaken."

Jaken looked distastefully at the bouquet and commented, "Milord, I don't understand why you take these silly human offerings from her every day. They're always the same thing!" He continued, looking at Rin, and said, "Lord Sesshoumaru doesn't want your stupid flowers, girl. He's just taking them to make you be quiet. You would cry if he didn't. Stop wasting your time."

Rin felt her lower lip tremble. Why was Jaken-sama being so mean? That wasn't true, right? She knew he didn't care for flowers, but he wasn't taking them to make her shut up, was he? Did she irritate him _that_ much? She lowered her head in shame. A deep, commanding voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Shut up, Jaken. Rin doesn't cry. I take her flowers because I like them." He turned to leave. Rin felt a bubble of happiness swell slowly in her chest. Sesshoumaru-sama paused and looked back at her. "Keep picking them." Then he started to walk.

Jaken-sama was cowed and followed silently.

Rin was skipping and twirling. "I'll always pick flowers for you," she promised silently.

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Sesshoumaru looked at the flowers in his hand as he walked. He counted fourteen. More than usual. His eyes softened slightly as he beheld his favorite flower of the bunch.

When Rin wasn't looking, he left thirteen flowers in a tree branch, where she wouldn't see that he had left them behind. And he tucked the wild violet into his kimono.

**A/N: Ahhh! I love Sess and Rin, they're so cute! Oh, and that whole schpeal about narcissuses and marigolds and wild violets, I have absolutely no idea where they grow, I was just making that up for the sake of the story. But pretend that it's real if you like. Again, please leave a review, even if it wasn't anything special. Don't you dare leave without a review! Lol, thanks!**


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